Once Bitten, Twice Shy
by angelicdhampir2oo4
Summary: My first submitted fic, so be gentle. CyxRae fluff ABANDONED
1. OF CYBORGS AND FEELINGS

Hello all. This is the first Fan Fic I have ever bothered to upload. It involves Cyborg and Raven, little fluff here, a little waff there... Um... There is also a bit of Starfire x Robin. Sorry, but nothing for Beast Boy. He'll just have to suffer until I come up with a suitable new Titan. In any case, please read and review! Constructive criticisms only, please.

(A/N: Uh hey... Sorry about the way it was formatted before, but I was in a hurry to upload it. So for anyone whose eyes were bleeding, I apologize. By the way... WHY WONT THIS DAMN WEBSITE LET ME KEEP MY INDENTS?! Next chapter will be out soon, just needing to re-evaluate a few ideas, kill my computer for.. various reasons. )

Disclaimer: I don't own anything worthwhile, except for my X Box and PS2. And if you try to take those, I will eat your face without reservation.

Deep in the center of the Titans Tower, a seventeen year old male lay awake. It was four thirty in the morning, and yet he could not sleep. It had been nearly a year since he'd actually ever slept peacefully. Every night was filled with dreams... and nightmares. He honestly couldn't tell the difference anymore. When he wasn't having nightmares about the accident, or becoming an obsolete member of the Titans, his brain tortured him with dreams of... her. It was always her. No matter what he did, he thought of her, dreamed of her, and damn near _breathed_ her. Where his obsession came from, he couldn't begin to know. As far as he did know, however, she'd not shown the slightest of interest in him.. At least, not in the way he wished. She was content with being friends, and probably, no, certainly had no clue as to what caused him to act so... unnatural when she was around. He sighed and looked at his false arm. An arm he couldn't feel, and could lose at any moment without a care.

_This probably has something to do with it..._The teen thought. He missed his real skin, his dark flesh. Nobody could ever fall in love with obsolete machinery. Her face swam into his mind once more.

"Raven..." he whispered, his voice drifting.

It was nearly ten when Cyborg awoke again. He yawned, and stretched imaginary muscles. He walked out of his room, his humanoid eye closed, and the cybernetic implant winking out to simulate a closed eye.

"Oof!" He opened his eyes as he realized he'd bumped into someone. It was Starfire. She was the pluckiest member of the Teen Titans, next to Beast boy. She was absolutely bubbly, and some how, it made him forget his problems. To him, she was like a baby sister.

"I am sorry, friend Cyborg. I was not paying attention as I was walking the hall of ways." She said, her voice ridiculously cheery. Cyborg couldn't help but smile as he helped her to her feet.

"It's a'ight Star. How ya doing this mornin'?" He asked, beaming at the young Tamaranian.

"I am well. Have you seen friend Robin?" She gushed, in an even better mood than normal. It was obvious that she was interested in a more fruitful relationship with 'friend Robin' than friendship. He chuckled.

"Naw, I haven't seen bird boy yet. Check the training room." Starfire smiled at him.

"Ah, yes. Robin must surely be in the room of training. Thank you friend Cyborg!" She said as she floated down the hall.

"See ya, Star!" He called after her before heading down the elevator to the living room area.

Beast boy was sitting on the shoe-horse couch, playing a racing game. Cyborg smiled and leapt over the back of the couch, sitting next to his green friend.

"Hey, little man." He said, watching the small changeling's virtual car go careening off the ledge of the track for the eighth time in a row.

"Hey, what's up Cy, my man!" He said, pausing the game long enough to give his much larger friend a high five.

"Pshht.. Aint nothin' but a chicken-wang. How you doin'?" Cyborg asked, referring to the game and already knowing the answer he'd get.

"Awe, man this game is defective, and my controller is totally not working right!" B.B. said explosively as he flew off the track and watched his car die spectacularly once again. Cyborg just grinned.

"If you stop gunning it around corners..." he whispered conspiratorially in the little man's ear. Beast Boy eyed him for a moment before trying it out. He stopped dying by a margin of 70. Cyborg smiled and stood up. He started to leave when he saw her. It was Raven, in all her glory. Her hood was down, as she slowly walked into the room, and her cloak swept behind her, her movement matching her manner with surprising accuracy. She moved with preciseness, like a cat slinking across a fence post. Her violet hair bounced with her every movement. Every concise thought Cyborg had in his head died with such speed and spectacularity, they rivaled Beast Boy's failings at his racing game.

"Good morning Raven.." Cyborg barely managed to mutter. The half demon stared at him.

"Are you okay?" her monotone voice breaking through the stupid look on his face.

"Um.. ah... Man, I'm always chill!" he said, blushing and laughing nervously. Raven raised her eyebrow then shook her head and walked over to her usual post on the couch, a book in hand.

"Sometimes, I worry about you Cyborg." She said sarcastically before burying her face in the book. Cyborg's brain had momentarily short circuited. Every synapses in his brain was pooling over the chance to talk with Raven, to say something witty, or meaningful. But, alas, Cyborg's efforts to speak with Raven were not met with positive results. The only thing he could think of to say was 'How's the book?' and he knew that was more than lame. It would be the progeny, nay, the unholy offspring, of the word lame. So he said nothing, sighed and walked into the kitchen. He felt like eating waffles until he exploded. He had just poured the batter on the waffle iron when Raven walked in the kitchen. She had sha-shayed past like normal, without even batting an eye in his direction, headed to the tea pot that was about two seconds away from making it's typical whistling noise. Part of him wanted to try to do something romantic, or ballsy, or something, but he knew that would end in disaster. The vision of Raven flinging him out a window did not sit well with him. He looked down and frowned as he realized he'd burnt his waffles. He hadn't burnt waffles since he was seven years old.

"Nice cooking Cyborg." Raven said, her voice echoing quietly off the kitchen walls. He chuckled nervously.

"Eh, I'm feeling a little space-y." He muttered, scraping the charred remains of his breakfast off the iron and starting all over. Raven shook her head in amusement, her tea in hand as she left the kitchen. Finally, after cooking nearly twenty-some-odd waffles of respectable quality, and piling them evenly on two plates, he sat down at his usual table. He usually sat here by himself unless someone invited him to the main table for dinner.

"Hmm... Where to start?" He thought. The left side had waffles covered in normal maple syrup. The right side had strawberries in their natural sauce. He shrugged and began plowing his way through both plates, munching at a mile a minute. Cyborg looked over at Raven who was back on the couch, her legs crossed as she sipped her slowly cooling tea.

_Damn!_ It got harder and harder with each passing moment. He wanted to tell her so bad, to kiss her, to hold her. But he knew better. Raven, even if she would have liked the attentions of a damn half robot, would not have appreciated his emotional outburst. Besides, as she always said _'I don't do emotions'_. Cyborg sighed.

"This sucks..." He quickly cleared his plates of food and lay them in the ominous tower of rancid food encrusted plates. Then, slowly, his thoughts seemingly dragging his feet down, he walked out of the living room and headed towards the training area. The hallway seemed both infinitely too long and infinitely too short at the same time as his thoughts about Raven began to swirl in his head, making him more and more miserable.

_Even if she was interested, even if she loved me... what could I offer her? Life with an oversized kitchen appliance?_ He got more and more depressed. Even if she did like him, how would he know? Her emotions were in check 90 of the time unless she was mad. And he had apparently lost the balls he required to ask her out. Back when he was an athlete, a full human, this wouldn't even begin to be an issue. The girls were all over _him_. He never had to search for a woman, they were searching for him. Cyborg chuckled to himself.

"My, how the mighty have fallen..." he muttered to no one.

_Maybe Robin will have some insight..._He thought, walking into the practice room.

Raven sat in her seat at the couch, reading through Edgar Allen Poe's greatest works, one of her favorite books. Her tea had gone tepid, she had gotten so into her book. She frowned at the glass of now flat and cold tea. She really had been looking forward to her tea. It was imported premium blend Oolong tea, which wasn't exactly easy to get in the U.S. of A. She sighed and lay her book down, it's spine in the air.

_I guess I'll fix some more..._She thought, walking into the kitchen. She looked through the terrifying blue fuzz encrusted cabinets before finding her carefully wrapped package of leaves. The Oolong tea had to be prepared the old fashioned way, with whole leaves instead of packets. As she began the process of making her tea, her thoughts slowly began to gravitate towards Cyborg. He had been acting rather odd this morning. When she had wandered into the living room, Cyborg had been jubilant, until he saw her. Then after that, he had become oddly nervous and depressed at the same time. She mightn't be able to read his mind like she could read the others, but she could almost smell his emotions.

_So... What the hell was that about?_ She wondered, unconsciously pouring her tea just before the teapot could begin it's high pitched squeal.

_Wait, why am I worrying about Cyborg anyway? He probably isn't even worrying about me, he's _always_ got something on his mind. _Now that she thought about it, the dark skinned teen did always seem to be thinking about something, and it always seemed to make him miserable.

_Hmph. Something we have in common. Being miserable._ She thought wryly. To tell the truth, she and Cyborg had more in common than first glances would yield. They both had estranged parents, albeit for different reasons. Neither one of them was completely accepted by those who lived outside the Titans Tower. Both were considered freaks for their unusual appearance. Neither one of them had divulged all the details concerning their personal life. And they were both consistently underestimated. Raven thought about that for a moment longer. In truth, they were the only ones who understood each other. Then again, this was not news. They, or at least, she had realized as much when they rebuilt the T-car. They had become fairly good friends then and had talked to each other for a while. Then, lately, they just kind of drifted, what with all the insanity coming to bear over the last month. Terra had betrayed them and joined Slade in taking over Jump city, then had been turned to stone underground trying to save Jump from Slade's grasp. Cyborg had infiltrated and pretended to betray them at the H.A.E.Y.P. Robin's Red X costume had been stolen and used to steal Synolthium. Starfire had been forced to return home and marry a slug-like alien to protect her planet from the grasp of a powerful alien army, only to find out her sister, Blackfire had taken over the empire, the army was a fake controlled by computer, then had to deliver a Texas sized ass-whuppin' to her sister. Cyborg had been driven insane by a virus and had to have Beast-boy and Gizmo wandering around inside of him, fighting the virus off, not to mention little incidents in which Robin had lost his mind and Raven had been conned into using black magic by an evil dragon. Not much time to just hang out and chat.

_I should try to catch up with him. We freaks have to stick together._ She thought, grinning to herself before realizing her tea had gone tepid again. Her eye twitched visibly as the glass turned black before exploding in her hand.

"I give up." She exhumed, glaring at the cup's shattered remains.

Robin grunted as his wiry form twisted around in the air and landed a perfectly executed jumping spin-kick to the punching bag for the hundredth time. In the background, prodigy's Breathe was playing, drowned out slightly by Cyborg's weight machine, which was working overtime. The gym was filled with the loud rhythmic thump of heavy weight tiles being dropped, grunts, and barely audible music.

"Man, these are sooo much more comfortable than the tights" he muttered to himself. He was wearing something different from his normal attire for once. He was wearing a light grey muscle shirt and a pair of black track pants, his trademark mask still on his face. He was drenched with sweat as he executed one last kick.

"Phew.. time to take a break for a moment." He muttered, walking over to the cooler and pouring himself a cold, refreshing glass of O.j. (Obscure reference to Taz the tazmanian devil's dad from the old TV show for anyone who missed it.) Robin chugged the juice down within the space of a minute before refilling his glass once again. He looked over at Cyborg, who was using his special weight machine. The Silver marvel of machinery was pumping out gleaming tiles that weighed a metric ton each at a ton per five seconds. It was at twenty-seven metric tons and rising. So far, Cyborg's best record had been only ten. So needless to say, he was doing good. The cybernetic teen didn't even seem to notice as the weights piled on.

"Whoa, Cyborg, are you sure it's safe to hold that much weight?" he asked, drying his face off with a towel.

"Huh..? What's up?" Cyborg said, coming out of his daze.

"I said, is it safe to hold that much weight." Robin said, pointing to the indicator next to him. Cyborg's eyebrow rose as he stared at the meter. It read 30 tons.

"Aw... Man, I don't even know anymore..." He said, as the weight kept on adding up. His knees didn't even bend as another ton was added to the pile. _Whrr..r click click click click.._ Apparently, the machine had run out of single ton tiles as the heavy duty conveyor belt that it used to carry the weights up was clicking away pointlessly. Robin sighed and turned the machine to re-acquire mode, in which large robotic arms slid out of their holding place in the roof and began pulling the tiles off of the prongs that held them in place on their apparatus, and began force-feeding the tiles into their storage slot, removing them at a tile per second. Cyborg let his arms drop to his side as he stepped off from under the holding utensil.

"Hmm.. thirty-one tons. Tcht.." Cyborg said, sounding as if he hadn't honestly cared how many tons.

"Dude, what's on your mind?" Robin enquired, staring at his friends preoccupied gaze. Cyborg stared at him for a moment.

"Can I trust you with something, Rob? You can't tell no one else, not Beast Boy, not Starfire, not even Batman. And try not to laugh." Cyborg said, grabbing himself a cup of orange juice. Robin placed his hand over his heart.

"I swear, Scouts honor." Cyborg took a breath.

"A'ight.... Um.. It's Raven.." Robin stared at Cyborg.

"Uh-huh. The gothic girl who lives with us. What about her?" Cyborg could feel himself go crimson.

"I uh... I like her, ya' know what I mean? And I don't mean fartin' around and playing games together _'like her'_, I mean making out at sun set, making babies, and getting old and crusty together, _'like her'_." Robin smiled slowly as the full impact of this statement sunk into his head.

"Hmmm..." he uttered, going into his classic 'thinking' pose, one arm folded under the vertical one, his fore-finger and thumb gently stroking his chin.

"So what'cha gonna do? You gonna ask her out, or what?" Cyborg looked at his spiky haired friend for a moment.

" I don't know..."

Raven sat in lotus position, levitating ever so lightly off the floor. She wasn't meditating like usual. Instead, she was busily hammering away at the keys of a small laptop that Cyborg had built for her for her birth day about a year ago. All she had asked for was a modest Dell with a 2.0 gigahertz Pentium Celeron processor and nothing more. Raven couldn't help but grin. He'd built her a beast of a laptop. It had a 300 gigahertz "Titan 3g3 FX" processor that was compatible with literally anything, A 3 terrabyte hard drive at 400,000 rpm, 18 gigabytes of "Titans specialty"DDR8 ram, A "Titan T-2300X" video card, that came with it's own 200gigahertz processor, 6 gigabytes of ram and was compatible with any program in existence, and a "Titans-max bass sound" sound card along with souped up speakers that could serve as the whole sound ensemble for a concert. It also had specialty "Titans Wi Fi FX" wi fi compatibility that allowed her to use any wi fi connection in the world to surf the net. And a "Titan X" DVD burner that could burn four gigabytes in 2 seconds. He'd even loaded Windows XP Pro and Linux SuSE for her. _(A/n: Yes, I am making Raven a computer nerd. Come on, she's gotta have some hobbies besides reading poetry, drinking tea, and meditating. And this just seemed to fit her.)_ And on top of all this, the laptop only weighed two pounds, never overheated and was medium in size. Needless to say, Cyborg had outdone himself. He'd even had somebody custom paint a Raven surrounded in flames on it.Raven had been slowly perusing the net, trying to find a good poetry site, but with little success. The gothic girl sighed.

"Well.. that's another waste of forty minutes." She said, shutting her laptop down and closing it. The azure haired female groaned as she stopped levitating and stood up. She laid her laptop on her dresser before flopping across her bed, her limbs jutting out in all directions.

_I'm so bored... _she thought. She'd been feeling restless since this morning. After deciding she and Cyborg needed to get back in touch and become good friends again, she'd become restless, impatient, and apprehensive, all in that order.

_I can't take it anymore! I'm going to go find Cyborg._ She decided. She didn't know why she wanted to talk to him so bad all of a sudden, and was puzzling over her own erratic behavior, but decided it couldn't hurt to follow through with her base instincts for once.

_Where could he be?_ She thought as she walked through the halls, trying to find the psychic tag she'd planted on Cyborg. It took her a moment to reach out and touch the sensitive tag.

"Ah hah. The roof." She muttered to herself. She decided against walking any further and simply phased through the roof. As soon as she materialized, she saw Cyborg sitting on the ledge, looking thoughtful.

"Cyborg..." Raven started.

AHHH! I can't think of what else to write right now. So what did you think? Should I keep writing this amateur scribe of mine, or should I just hang up my towel? Let me know!

(A/N: Um... as far as I know spectacularity isn't a real word.. But I like it. It's kinda funny.)


	2. Raven, don your cloak I need to rename t...

Sorry this chapter is late people. But I was having issues, and a lot of school work, plus a thousand other things. In any case, I changed up the style I was writing with a little bit… (Yes, I have multiple writing styles as well as drawing styles) Um.. It's more.. On the fence as far as their emotions and thoughts. It makes it easier for me to write rapidly. The next chapter might be in the old style if you don't like this style.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Titans. Yet. However, after extensive investments in Microsoft, and Sony, and becoming rich, I will.

"Cyborg…" Raven started. Her voice was soft, even more so than usual. The chocolate skinned Titan looked up from his perch on the ledge of the roof. He looked like he was about to say something when the familiar, most irritating whine began. The Titans siren had awakened. Raven counted down the time until Robin appeared on the roof-top.

"Titans, trouble!"

"Damn." Raven said as she quickly teleported herself, Robin and Cy down to the garage, where Beast Boy and Starfire were already strapping themselves into their own seats.

Cyborg smiled at her apologetically.

"Um.. we can talk about it later.." Raven said, not wanting Cy to believe it was some great big deal that she was gonna bring up. She sighed as the mighty engines of the T-car revved and flew out into the city night. 'It'll have to wait…'

The dark girl walked down one of the many barren hallways of the Titans tower. Halogen lamps gently '_buzzed'_ as electricity flowed through them, lighting her path with a lazy off-white color. The gray- paneled walls of the hallway gleamed dimly and her wavering reflection mimicked her slow gait. She smiled mirthlessly as she turned the corner that led to her room. The night had not gone well. They came under attack from an as yet unknown assailant, whose pattern greatly mirrored Slade's except for a few things. One, this new opponent did not leave empty dramatic clues and thinly veiled taunts to torture Robin. Two, this enemy appeared to only be interested in one thing- Money. The only reason this person's would-be cronies attacked is because the Titans and herself had interrupted their transfer of money from the bank.

This led full-circle to why it hadn't been such a great night. The purple clad warrior grimaced as she slowly rolled down the top if her leotard and removed the padding to inspect her wounds from said thugs- A light plasma burn on the side of her right breast, another just below her left breast, and yet another on her left side as well as a cut on her stomach, a jagged, angry red slash on her abdomen. She was bruised in various other places as well, but they could be ignored; Possible infection could not.

Carefully, She disengaged from her leotard the rest of the way, clad only in a pair of plain white panties after it's full removal. The girl sighed as she got up from the comfortable plush bed and went to rummage around in her closet for a moment. Frowning, she carried the small container of medical supplies back to her bed, where she quickly found and removed the antiseptic cream, as well as some bandages. She'd be able to heal some of the wounds herself, but the others, she didn't have enough energy to deal with at the moment. Raven winced as the cold cream came in contact with the cut. It didn't hurt so much as it stung. Slowly, and methodically, she tended to her wounds, using what little energy she had left to prevent scarring. She had just begun wrapping her chest with gauze when her door slid open. She turned around and there stood Cyborg, holding a first aid kit, his eyes wide and his mouth doing it's best to imitate them. Quickly, the other Teen did an about face, attempting to give the girl her modesty back.

"I'm sorry Raven. I'll come back later…" he said, sounding thoroughly embarrassed. Raven smiled to herself as she continued to wrap the bandages around her pectoral area. 

" It's alright, Cy. What did you need?" She asked, turning in the boy's direction.

" I was just checkin' up on ya, to see if you needed any help." he answered, firmly planted in the direction of the door. Raven's eyebrow quirked ever so slightly as a smirk came across her lips.

"Um Cy? I'm decent. Or at least, fairly so." she said, before inspecting the burn on her side. It was considerably less damage than the other two, so she could heal it easily without wasting too much energy. Cy turned away from the doorway and sat on the edge of the bed, still looking flustered and embarrassed. Raven only shook her head in response, finding his reaction somewhat entertaining.

"So uh.. _Do you_ need anything?" he asked. He was obviously uncomfortable with the Idea of being so close a half naked girl who was younger than him, but Raven paid that no mind. She wanted to speak with him about something. Raven moved slightly and winced as another plasma burn she hadn't noticed throbbed angrily at being forgotten.

"Actually Cy, I could use your help." She said, her voice still neutral.

"Yeah?" he asked, looking doubtful.

" There's a plasma burn on my lower back. Would you mind spreading the analgesic cream on it?"

Cyborg's eyes widened to the size of saucers again. The idea of touching a half naked girl younger than him didn't sit so well either. Raven sighed in exasperation.

"Cy, all you have to do is put the cream on the burn. It's not like your molesting an eleven year old or something, I'm sixteen for God's sake." She said, snapping at him. This seemed to slap Cy out of his stupor as he took the tube of cream and slowly slathered it onto the burn, careful not to press hard enough to make the pain worse. It was obvious he could see Raven's logic as he started chuckling to himself.

" Yeah, I guess I was bein' pretty stupid." he said, more to himself than to her as he squeezed another portion of the cream into his hand.

"So how are things for you Cyborg?" she asked, her soft monotone greatly contrasting his deep baritone.

"Um… I guess you could say they are going okay…" He said, his voice betraying the fact that things were definitely not okay with him. Raven collected the fact that he was lying about something in the back of her mind as she spoke. She'd pry into it a little later.

"That's good. How's your baby?" she asked, referring to the T-car. Cyborg frowned. "She aint so good anymore. I'm starting to think I'm gonna have to redesign the old girl." he muttered, sighing. Raven bit back a chuckle. He always seemed to find something wrong with his inventions, even when they were perfectly fine.

'_The life of a perfectionist…'_ she thought, smiling dryly.

"We've rebuilt the old girl so many times that her data doesn't even fit the overall structure flaws in the frame." He said. Raven could feel his frown on her back as he continued to apply treatment to the wounded area. His powerful hands had somehow managed to begin a healing process in her back. She could feel the healing energy pool on the scar and begin removing it. '_He could be a powerful Reiki master if he were to study._' She thought, surprised at how thoroughly he managed to soothe the plasma burn.

"You know, you should probably study Reiki" She said, feeling the last traces of he burn being removed. Cyborg made a slightly confused noise as he removed his hand from the area he'd been massaging the salve into.

"Hey, the burn is gone! How'd ya do that?" He asked, apparently oblivious to the fact that she'd even said anything. She sighed slightly, both from the loss of the admittedly comforting back massage and his lack of attention. " I didn't. You did." She said, wondering how the teen had managed to tap into universal life energy without attunement. She pondered it for a moment in the back of her mind as she answered Cyborg's unanswered question.

"Somehow, you tapped into universal life energy, ULE for short. No I don't know how… But in any case, thanks." She summarized quickly, then turned to him and gave him a hug. Cyborg stiffened slightly then chided himself for his own stupidity before hugging the girl back.

"So what are you going to do about the car then?" She asked, getting back on subject. After the first time she'd helped with the T-car, she found that she liked working with the typically expensive machines, a surprising development indeed. She certainly wouldn't mind working on another one.

"Nothing yet. But if she gets messed up again, I'm just going to trash the current one and redesign her from the top." He said, his blue eye seemingly dulling at the thought of destroying his baby. Raven chuckled.

"You know, I'm glad we had this little chat. For a while I was kind of worried that we were kind of drifting." She said, her sentence ending softly. His eyebrow rose in surprise.

"Say what?" he drawled, looking every bit the fool at the moment. Raven chuckled again.

"We used to hang out a little more is. I started worrying that you didn't like me anymore."

"No, I could never stop liking you Raven…" he sputtered, saying it entirely to quickly for his liking. He gulped slightly and hoped she hadn't caught how quickly he reacted. She didn't seem to have noticed anything and just smiled a little.

Like a small animal testing the waters he gently brought up the courage to ask what should have been a simple question. But at the simple thought, his tongue seemed to have turned into a slug, slow and unyielding in it's lack of motivation.

Raven stared at Cyborg, wondering what was wrong with her elder friend, as he fidgeted uncomfortably. His mouth was opening and closing like a fish out of water and he seemed to be at a loss for words. She was about to ask him what was wrong when he suddenly spoke, sounding as though he had run around the block forty or so times without rest.

"Do you wanna go ou- Crap! I mean.. Uh.. Do you wanna hang out later? Catch a movie.. or something? That new Knife after dark movie is out." he said quickly, despising the child-like foolishness of his sentence. Raven, however, did not seem to notice his plight as she smiled genuinely, a first in a while, and affirmed his wishes.

"Sure. What time do you wanna go?" She said, her voice still monotone, but with a perceptible edge of interest. Cyborg sighed an internal sigh of release. So she wasn't repulsed by the idea of hanging out with him. That was a good thing.

"Um… About eight sound good to you? I can go whenever, just gimme about 15 minutes to charge." He said, making it clear that he was available at anytime. Or so he hoped.

Raven considered asking him about why he was so hopped up all of a sudden but decided against it. She would need enough time to consult Starfire on what "normal kids" wore as casual wear as well as to borrow some of her clothes.

"Eight sounds good. See you then." She said, standing up. Cyborg followed suit, his heavy body leaving a light indent in her mattress. He smiled warmly at the girl before disappearing out of her room.

"Oh, yes! I would most enjoy the chance to help you dress coldly for your movie with friend Cyborg." Starfire gushed happily. Raven quirked an eyebrow at her younger friend as she chattered on about fashion and clothing. Despite the fact that Starfire had no clue as to the "language" of teens her age (Raven had considered interrupting Star to tell her that the word she was looking for was cool, but decided against it, lest she interrupt her friends steam), she knew fashion better than possibly anybody. The girl was already foraging through her closet, tossing outfit after outfit onto her bed. Raven strained to keep up with her highspeed chatter, but could not, so she stood in the corner, looking and feeling as dumb as a brick. After a moment of grabbing other random accessories, Star came back out of her closet, positively beaming.

"Friend Raven, I have long awaited the day I could 'over make' you. It will be glorious!" she said, giggling. Raven couldn't help but smile. The girl's happiness was almost disturbingly infectious. She briefly glanced over at the pile of clothing on the bed and her eyes widened to their extremes. T-shirts ranging from disgustingly cute, to tongue in cheek sexy to plain old black littered the bed space amongst skirts, jeans, and shorts of varying lengths and styles. Shoes of all sorts were laid out along the purple carpet of her floor, looking for all the world like some sort of bombing attempt was made on the worlds shoe factories and they wound up there.

"Shall we begin?" Star said, her bubbly voice bursting Raven's thoughts with the greatest of ease. Raven looked away from the clothing and shoes to the green stained eyes of her friend.

"Uh…. Sure?" she said before being dragged into a tornado of clothing changes.

Cyborg quickly dug through the top drawer of his desk. The silver-blue metallic finish of his desk reflected his worried face with ease as his hands danced through countless little doodads he'd never finished.

'_I hope I didn't lose it… Oh, hey! There it is!_' he thought, triumphantly pulling the small silver-ish object out of it's undisturbed corner of the drawer. Sliding it onto his metallic middle finger, his metallic body shimmered like a heat mirage for a moment before transforming into a fully clothed, normal human body. Cyborg smiled as he felt the familiar jolt of electricity that came from using his holo-ring. It used more of his power cell than he liked, but if things went well, he wouldn't have to worry about it at all. Taking the ring off, he laid on the top of the desk, closed the drawer and quickly dashed over to the table he slept/charged on. Using the cords, he quickly plugged himself in and powered down for the quickest possible and most effective charge.

'_maybe I can tell her now…'_

Robin groaned as the t.v. showed yet another commercial for some sort of Barbie doll thing. He was tired of people constantly trying to sell him crap. Flipping the channel quickly, he came across some old kung fu movie. He smiled as Bruce lee back kicked yet another dork through a plaster wall.

'_That's the way fights were meant to be fought'_ he thought, eyes glued to the T.v. after watching Lee brutalize thirty or so more people, he got up to go get a bag of popcorn. He knew he'd be watching this for a while; These movies were his overall favorite. He was halfway to the cabinet when Cyborg came in.. Or Rather, Victor Stone walked in. Robin smiled.

"Hey Cy, looking good buddy. What's the occasion?" he said, stalling his footsteps. If Cy was willing to wear his holo-ring again, something interesting must have come up. Cyborg blushed slightly and smiled.

"I got around to asking Rae out… Kinda" he finished sheepishly, looking halfway between bliss and despair. Robin chuckled.

"Kinda? By kinda, you mean you chickened out, or what?" He prodded as Cyborg looked down at the floor, obviously embarrassed.

"Uh.. Well. I only asked her to hang out and see a movie… but I'm gonna ask her at the movie!" he said, grinning. Robin shook his head.

"I bet you didn't come out to ask me about that though, did you?" Robin said after a moment of silence. He wanted speed this along. He didn't mind speaking with his friend, but he wanted to see his movie.

"Uh.. Yeah. I need to borrow the R-cycle. The T-car needs an overhaul and I only have an hour before I go…" Cyborg didn't get to finish his sentence as a pair of keys came flying through the air.

Robin smirked.

"Have a good time. And wear protection." Cyborg stopped in his steps.

"Ay, man. That ain't funny." He said at Robin's receding back. "That ain't funny."

Meanwhile…

Beastboy stared at the television screen, looking for all the world like an invalid. His eyes were glazed, his expression blank, and drool dripped from the corner of his mouth. The only signs of life he exhibited were the occasional yelps of success, constantly twitching thumbs, and the occasional movement of his head. He was playing Halo 2 (A/N: yes, this was me ((kind of. My copy wasn't pirated, and was only a day early)). For about three days) and had instantly fallen in love with the game. He hadn't been out of his room since they got back from the last battle, and he could give less than a care as for what everyone else was up to. His was a pirated copy, and it had a lot of glitches that probably would never make it into the full game, but he didn't care. His copy wouldn't allow him to save, but he didn't care. He didn't even care that he could only play seven of the levels, or that the controller would sometimes spaz out and not work. All he needed was Halo 2. He would become one with Halo 2. He _was_ Halo 2. The greenest titan stopped playing for a moment.

"Woah… I need to take a break.. My own thoughts are starting to freak me out!" he said, removing his death grip from the controller. His eyes widened as he realized there were finger shaped indents in the controller S. Quickly, he got up, and walked out of his room, turning off the X-box. He needed a shower. Then maybe he'd go gloat to Cyborg about his… advance copy of the game. Quickly, he ran to the bathroom and took a short shower, being sure to make himself at least presentable before dashing down into the front room. He was surprised to find Robin sitting on the edge of his seat, cheering on a forty inch tall Bruce Lee, who was currently pummeling a wanna be ninja with a block of wood. More to his surprise was the fact that the Boy wonder was watching the movie alone.

B.B. considered asking Robin where everyone had gone but quickly surmised from the scene that everyone was doing something else. He shrugged and went back to his room. He had an ultra level elite to school in the way of the shotgun.

Well. That's Chapter two. I know, I know. You probably expected a bit… more, but this is the eighth time I've re-written this damn thing! The first seven times were disasters. I have a plan and everything for how I want stuff to happen, but I was beaten, stabbed and shot by writers block, computer issues (the third time I wrote this chapter, it came out pretty good, but my computer's hard drive decided to die an irritatingly spectacular death), and a black out that lasted two days. Not to mention the three times my mom turned my computer off when I went to get something to drink and erased my work. So I dun wanna hear any bitchin' about how short this chapter is. Anyway… Read and Review. And tell me if you like this writing style or the other one better.


	3. Why? Or the halloween special chapter

Once Bitten Twice Shy, Chapter 3: Why? (Or, the Holloween chapter)

A/N: Well, I know it's been a while, and honestly, If you don't even remember this story, I can't blame you. I won't even say why this chapter is so late, But hey, stuff happens, right? Story of my life. Anyway, Heres the lowdown on this chapter. Now, I'd been stuck halfway through the original version of this chapter for a while, due to several things. Then, October rolled around. Realizing the opportunity at hand, I quickly typed this Monstrosity before you. This chapter is a whole different animal from the previous two. I know I promised cute and funny, but with Holloween right around the corner, and feeling the need for some angst and violence to make this story a little more well rounded, this was born. I promise, the rest of the story will be a lot more lighthearted, and much closer to the sappy nature of the first two chapters, and if I get a lot of requests for it, I'll replace this chapter with a much happier one to maintain a more easy-going mood. Anyway, here be some warnings. This chapter is rated R. Strong violence, Intense blood and Gore, Intense language, and very little Romance. Murdered Men, Women, and Children. Some gross out scenes. You know whats-up. Anyway, Read and review!

"Why..." Cyborg whispered, looking at the burning schoolbus. Like some horrible sacrificial lair to some malicious deity, the bus lay crumpled on the street. Flames bathed the Detroit steel in an eerie golden-red aura as it patiently devoured the paint and began working it's way into the alloys of the bus frame. Clouds of ominous black smoke chugged towards the sky, obscuring the view of a high afternoon sun. Stumbling as he freed himself of shock, he slowly neared the vehicle, hearing the wails of children.

There were several children, all younger than ten, trapped in the wrecked ball of refuse. The driver lay slumped over the dashboard, flames licking at his thin, pale form, hungrily consuming his flesh and gristle. He had been hoping things would go well on his first date with Raven, but it seemed the world had other plans. The hadn't even gotten to the movie when the communicators went off. Growling to himself, he tore his way into the bus, hoping to get all of the children off the bus as soon as possible; It wouldn't be long before the gas tank was breached. He spotted one of the children immediately. Curled up in a ball in the first seat to the right, a little girl clung to her book-bag pitifully, wailing her little heart out.

"Don't worry, little one. I'm coming!" He shouted over the roar of flames, stumbling through the smoke to her. Carefully, he scooped the little girl up into his arms and carried her off the bus, setting her down on the sidewalk.

"Okay, I want you to run over to those trees over there, Okay? When you get there, don't move from that spot, okay?" he asked, anxious to get back onboard. At least ten more children needed his help at the moment. Nodding, the little girl stumbled her way over the tree, coughing the whole time. Gritting his teeth, Cyborg dashed back onboard, alert for other children. His heart skipped a beat as he stumbled over a body. It was another young girl, about seven years old. But she didn't stand a chance. The poor girls little neck was twisted at an angle that no child could have survived. Fighting tears, he continued through the bus, his determination to save whoever was left tripled. Not an instant later, he came across a small group of girls and boys huddled together, trying to force one of the so-called emergency exits open. But because of the extensive frame damage the bus suffered, the door was now a deathtrap.

"Watchout ya'll. I'll open it." He said, carefully ushering the spooked children out of the way. Then, rearing back with his right leg, he kicked the door clean off the frame, sending it spinning and flipping off into oblivion.

"Alright, head out and go for that tree where the other girl is," he said, pointing at the first child he'd ushered off the burning bus. He watched for a moment as they stumbled off the bus and headed for the tree before turning back to whatever survivors remained. If things went his way, no one else would have to suffer…

"You son of a bitch!" Raven cried, her demonic birthright rearing forth with no hesitation. Unleashed, her powers wreaked havoc on the city block, blowing out windows and light fixtures, ripping the very concrete and tar of the streets to shreds. Before her, Brother Blood stood impassively, as though he were simply enjoying the scenery.

My, my, child, such language. It is not acceptable, and will not go unpunished in my class!" He tisked, a sardonic smile on his twisted face.

Raven couldn't help herself. In the presence of a man so evil, so irreparably vile, even her years of control over her emotions was not enough.

"How could you do that to them? They were only children!" she screeched, raw emotion ripping itself from her lungs, across her tongue and out of her mouth. Even now, she could scarcely believe what he'd done.

_ She and Cyborg had just left the Tower on Robin's bike, headed to the movies. She had been excited, as she hadn't been able to just hang out and chat with her friend in weeks. But in less than 45 minutes time, like clockwork, the Communicators had gone off. Irritably, she had answered hers as Cyborg slowed the bike to answer his own. Almost immediately afterward she whished she hadn't. _

_ On live television, Brother blood held a young reporter hostage, Smiling like the bastard he was. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen." He began, his voice sickeningly sweet, but impossible to ignore. _

_ "Tonight, were going to have a demonstration. This wonderful young woman," He said, roughly hauling the woman into prominence. "Will be the first of many to die tonight if Cyborg of the Teen Titans does not come to this location within the hour. For every minute he's late, I will kill one person. To show I mean business," He paused for a moment as he pushed her roughly to the ground near the bound and gagged cameraman. The person in control of the camera snickered. _

_"I will kill her immediately." He finished, leveling his hand in her direction. Before the woman could even scream, an evil red aura encased her body. Then, in a sickening display of power, He'd broken every bone in her body with his advanced telekinesis. Then, as if to punctuate his horrifying statement, he'd hauled his arm back as far as he could, then drove it forward in a deadly arc. Raven had to cover her eyes at that point, though it didn't cancel out the horrifying squelching noises the woman's pulverized head had made. Cyborg promptly threw up on the side of the road. An instant later, a pale-faced Robin appeared on the communicators. His face was a mixture of horror, disgust and rage as he started speaking. _

_"Cyborg, did you get all that?" He asked, his voice horse. It was obvious He hadn't taken it well either. "Yeah," Cyborg growled. Raven could literally feel the rage coming off of him. _

_"I got it loud and clear." He continued "_

_I'm going to have to kill that sick son of a bitch." He said, his voice disturbingly calm all of a sudden. Robin shook his head vigorously. _

_"I understand how you feel, but you cant bust in there like a commando. The reporter.. was at an elementary school." He whispered, indescribable sadness on his face._

_ "WHAT?" Cyborg had cried. Robin nodded sadly. "That's right. She was covering some sort of Award ceremony... I wish the others and I could back you up, But Beast Boy and Star.. They took it really bad. And I can't just leave them…" Cyborg nodded._

_ "I understand." Climbing back into position, Cyborg revved the Bike then took off like a shot, pushing for the highest speed he could attain. _

_At the school, it was a scene of chaos. Several police and security guards lay dead in the yard, with various gruesome wounds leaving tell tale signs of their passing. One unlucky guard lay torn in half, her her guts strewn across the playground. Another had been impaled on a tetherball stand. The stench of death wafted about the place like some evil specter, readily invading and overloading the Two Titans senses. Both of them gagged, and fought to avoid throwing up as they approached the man entrance to the school. _

_Inside, the scene was even worse. The pulverized bodies of staff members lined the majority of the halls, there limbs and various personal articles spilled all over and left where they lay. Blood smeared the majority of the halls, and several other terrible horrors awaited around each bend. In a disturbing form of humor and self importance, Brotherblood had painted arrows leading his way with the blood of others. At this point, Cyborg's human eye was streaming with tears, though his face was set with grim determination. Raven had to use every trick she knew to avoid blowing the building sky high with her emotions ruthless assault. As they neared brother blood's place of residence, the very worst sight lay before them. Two children, one boy and one girl had been stripped of their flesh and had been impaled through the back with makeshift spears made of rebar from the walls. At this, Cyborg had thrown up as did Raven. The type of evil required to do this sort of thing was beyond comprehension. _

_Growling ferociously, Cyborg had righted himself and plunged into the gymnasium. It was obvious by his demeanor, he was out for Blood. As soon as they entered the large dark room, the lights came on. And in an instant, Raven wished they hadn't. Four hundred and twenty two children lay dead or dying in the stands. Some had been granted a quick death through Bloods telepathy. Others had been shot by Bloods flunkies. Further still, some had been bludgeoned, impaled, torn assunder, and even burned alive. In the center of the room, stood Blood, surrounded by fourty of his best and most brainwashed students. _

"_Ahh, welcome Cyborg. To what do I owe thi-" He never got to finish his sentence. Cyborg barrled at him like an enraged bear and drove his fist into the gray-haired man's stomach, launching him clear out the other side of the gymnasium. Before Bloods students could react, He'd dashed out of the hole, chasing blood down. Raven, however, set her sights on Blood's students. _

_"Brainwashed or not," She growled, her eyes glowing with ebony fire as a dark purple aura surrounded her. _

_"THIS IS INEXCUSABLE!" She cried, throwing herself into battle with the favored students of Blood. The first to encounter her wrath was the brain-dead Billy Numerous. Just as he began to multiply, a obsidian barrier wrapped itself around him and compressed rapidly. He cried out in pain and surprise as it continued to constrict even as he called his duplicates back into himself. He never got the chance to make another noise. Meanwhile, Raven had enshrouded herself in her soul form and was handing out punishment left and right. All across the gymnasium, the Hive students were receiving deadly blows as Raven's powers lashed out at them. The one who called himself Sarge found himself with a telekinetic spike tearing through his stomach. Elsewere, one of several robed students was pierced through the heart with a needle thin lance of obsidian before exploding in a shower of gore. Rven fully intended that everyone of them would suffer for there misdeeds. Using her birthright, rebar shot out from the was and struck those out of her reach with deadly accuracy. None would escape unscathed._

_Outside, Cyborg had been doing his best to splatter blood all over the face of the planet. Blood let out a pined groan as he bounced off of a tree and slumped to the ground. As soon as he recovered, he was met with a devastating right hook combination that lifted him right off his feet._

_ As if on greased lightning, Cyborg was suddenly in the air right along side him with a fierce hook kick. And even before the blow had finished landing, Cyborg dropped with all his weight, driving his elbow into the soft underside of the older man's jaw, driving him into the soft soil of the playground. Then, just before Blood's body could finish it's decent, Cyborg took his leg back as far as he could, then threw it forward with enough force to level a small house and sent Blood skidding into the city limits._

_ Barely even coherent, Cyborg dashed after blood, His mind only intent on the evil bastards demise. Blood had just regained his footing as Cyborg struck him with a jumping back kick, blowing the headmaster into a condemned building. Cyborg was starting to advance on the man again when the entire building had been vaporized. In the center of it stood blood, cackling maniacly. Before Cyborg's disbelieving eyes, the Old man healed rapidly. _

_"MARVELOUS, CYBORG! YOU'VE COME A LONG WAY, CHILD" Blood jibbed, steping out of the smoking fissure where a building had once stood. Within the crags and cracks of the fissure, superheated stone and earth glowed ominously as the old man continued his march. Cyborg shook the shock out of his mind and jumped back into a ready stance. Just then, as though Fate Itself were on Bloods side, a school bus rumbled by. Cyborg's eyes widened as his spine ran cold and a block of ice settle in his gut. Brother Blood's evil grin only grew. Then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, Blood teleported over to the bus, then, to the horror of the school children inside, lifted and hurled the vehicle at Cyborg… _

**TO BE CONTINUED!**

_A/N: Hehe, I'm evil right? Anyway read and review_


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